Trackhouse Racing has signed 17-year-old Connor Zilisch to a multi-year agreement, the team announced Thursday.
Zilisch will run a variety of series in 2024 and ’25 as part of his development. He’s scheduled to run races in the CARS Tour, ARCA, Trans-Am, IMSA, NASCAR Craftsman Truck and Xfinity Series.
Zilisch is scheduled to compete in the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway on Jan. 26 (coverage on NBC, USA Network and Peacock). He’ll drive for the Era Motorsport LMP2 team.
“I have watched Connor grow from a youngster racing go-karts at the Trackhouse Motorplex to an up-close seat as he beat all of us in the Trans-Am race at VIR (Virginia International Raceway)
a few months ago,” said Trackhouse founder and owner Justin Marks in a statement.
“This kid is an amazing talent who we wanted to be a part of the Trackhouse family. We are going to go slow with Connor and make sure he’s fully prepared as he advances in what we believe will be a long racing career.”
Zilisch, who is from Mooresville, North Carolina, ran 10 years of competitive kart racing, including a stint in Europe at age 11. He won rookie of the year honors in the MX-5 Cup Series in 2022, finishing second in points. Last season, he won four of 10 races in that series.
He also won five of 13 Trans-Am Series TA2 races with Silver Hare Racing. He won the Trans-Am Series TA class race at Virginia International Raceway on Oct. 7. He’s also won a Cars Pro Late Model Tour race at Ace Speedway. Zilisch made his ARCA debut at Watkins Glen, leading 34 of 42 laps before finishing second.
Zilisch didn’t race on an oval until 2022. He told NBC Sports that he has much to learn about such tracks. That’s among his main goals for this coming season.
“I feel like the biggest thing is just race craft and understanding racing on ovals would be the biggest thing for me,” he said. “I, obviously, want to win a lot this year. You never show up to the track wanting to finish second, but I would say less so about winning more so about learning (this year).”
That’s among the lessons he’s learned from Josh Wise, who works with Chevrolet’s drivers on maximizing performance in various manners.
Zilisch said oval racing can prove challenging.
“If you mess up a little bit on one end, rather than messing up one corner on a 14-corner road course, I feel like there’s a lot smaller window of perfection. I feel like that’s been the biggest thing for me.
“Like qualifying in a stock car, you get two laps or sometimes even one lap. You go out there and you have two corners and you have to perfect them if you want to start at the front of the race. Late Model racing, track position is really important.
“Really, just the idea of perfection has been the biggest thing for me and understanding that you have to go out and execute every single corner. If not, you’re not going to succeed in oval racing.”
Working with Wise has allowed Zilisch to spend time with Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain.
Chastain’s dramatic final lap at Martinsville in 2022 to make the Championship 4 provided a lesson that Wise has talked to his drivers about often — be thinking outside the box.
Chastain had to pass two cars in the final lap at Martinsville to have a chance to race for the championship. His unorthodox move to ride against the wall and maintain his speed allowed him to gain those spots and more to achieve that goal.
Chastain’s actions at Martinsville reinforced lessons from Wise.
“I feel like that’s one thing I’ve learned the last two years working with Josh is just how to think outside the box and do things differently than others,” Zilisch told NBC Sports. “You’re never going to be the best if you do the same thing that other people are doing.”
